Last edited by shiny on November 13, 2026. View history
A 50 cm annual herb whose flowers make a relaxing, soothing tea. It self-seeds very freely, so once it is flowering in the garden you should never need to plant it again, and insects and vegetables alike benefit from it. Sow into trays in early spring or autumn, prick out at the first leaves to 2.5 cm diagonal spacing and transplant at 5 cm high, 10 cm apart on the diagonal. It can also be sown directly in lighter soils.
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For chamomile, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 6°C and a shortest growing cycle of 270 days at its best temperature, about 4320 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your chamomile will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by maco,
I've got seeds either on-hand or ordered for just about everything I'm starting from seed this year. I've been working out what I want to plant, and this is the plan I've come up with for the 72 square feet of my backyard raised beds:
arugula
basils
beets
cabbages
cauliflowers
cucumbers
eggplants
garlic
kale
lettuces
onions
oregano
parsley
Hungarian wax peppers
bell peppers
zucchini
yellow summer squash
butternut squash
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
super sweet 100 tomatoes
chamomiles
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 270 to 300 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Matricaria recutita L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Asterales Compositae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect, prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
Chamomile
Photos
lejun harvested 280.
View all chamomile seeds